Heritage Models, Inc., produces a fairly extensive line of WWII lead-tin infantry and vehicle miniatures in the 15mm scale that is becoming so popular in other periods (especially Napoleonics and American Civil War). When this line was first produced they were selling old 20mm figures and calling them 15mm, but they have now replaced these with a line of true 15mm scale, of which I've just received two samples.

Set #7001 is "World War II Germans Attacking, European". There are twelve figures in this set, which come in a plastic bubble pack with sponge-rubber cushioning. There are four identical advancing figures with MP 38/40 submachine guns, two identical standing/walking figures with MG34 light machine guns held balanced on the left forearm as though for firing from the hip, two identical figures standing firing Kar 98K rifles, one figure standing/walking holding a rifle in his left hand and throwing a "potato masher" grenade with his right hand, and three identical figures running with rifles. Unfortunately one of the latter figures in my sample set is an uncompleted figure, presumably not enough metal in the mold - with one hand and about half of his rifle missing. Except for him, these are excellent figures. The scale is exact, the detail as good as any 15mm figures of any period or manufacturer that I've seen. Their uniforms and equipment are strictly regulation, with coal-shuttle helmet, rolled shelter-half, canteen, entrenching tool, ammo pouches and belts, jack boots, and bread bag. The weapons are also authentic.

The other sample I received is Kit #7209, a German Tiger I heavy tank. It is also in ten-lead alloy and came in four pieces: hull, left and right suspensions and turret. It is almost 2 1/4" long, which must be close to 1/100 scale. A little Krazy Glue quickly assembled the model. The turret, of course, is not glued. It is an attractive, fairly well detailed, reasonably accurate model. The turret is just a little to long and narrow, and the storage bin on the turret rear is too narrow and its sides too nearly parallel. The glacis and the right side of the turret both have spare track molded on.

This should be a very good scale for WWII wargaming. Micro armor is too small to tell infantry weapons apart or to get in much detail on your paint jobs. But 1/76 or 1/72 scale models take up so much space it's hard to get much more than a platoon per side on a reasonably sized table. This 15mm Tiger takes up just about half the area that my 1/76-scale Airfix Tiger takes. There are also other advantages over 1/76 scale. Ease of assembly is certainly a major one. It took me three or four hours to assemble my Airfix 1/76-scale Tiger and three or four minutes for the 15mm Heritage Tiger. Also, the weight of the tin-lead model is impressive. It feels like a tank, is not very fragile, stays where you put it. Each set, single tank or twelve infantry, sells for $1.98. So far Heritage offer a pretty complete assortment of American vehicles, fair assortments of German and British vehicles and a limited assortment of Russian vehicles. So far only American and German infantry are available, I believe, with about six different sets of each. Heritage's 15m Panzertroops are available by mail or over the counter from the Toy Soldier, 102 Front St., Bath, ME 04530. A complete catalog of these and many other brands, periods and scales of miniatures and models, wargames, books, paints, etc. costs $2.00.

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